Meiro Koizumi

I went to Iraq to create a VR performance work with a young man, Ahmad. One evening when Ahmad was 13, while he and his family members were taking a walk by the river, suddenly they were attacked by a helicopter, and 5 family members were killed in front of his eyes. He survived by a miracle. I asked him to wear the 3-D VR camera on his head to narrate this tragedy. 3-D VR technology tricks the brain of the viewer so that one will have a sensation of being trapped inside the virtual body of Ahmad, and hearing his tragedy from within his body. One will feel Ahmad so close, yet, so far and unreachable. The performance consists of the viewers wearing the VR headsets, experiencing the story of the tragedy all at the same time. It is an attempt to create an intense communal experience mourning for the victims of the tragedy, as well as, a critical experiece questioning the state of our bodies within the contemporary society.